Wheel chair attachment



Nov. 13, 1962 E. F. LANDIG 3,063,736

WHEEL CHAIR ATTACHMENT Filed June 16, 1960 INVENTOR.

EARL F. LANDIG wily, gnwy ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,063,736 WHEEL CHAIR ATTACHMENT Earl F. Laudig, 5631 Adams Ave., Maple Heights 37, Ohio Filed June 16, 1960, Ser. No. 36,530 7 Claims. (Cl. 280289) This invention relates, as indicated, to a wheel chair attachment and more particularly to an attachment for wheel chairs and the like which will enable crippled or infirmed persons more easily to move to and from such chair.

It is, of course, an extremely arduous and sometimes frustrating task for a person suffering from immobility as the result of paraplegia or other like paralyzing disease to move into and out of a wheel chair. Assistance and supervision is generally required to get such people from a wheel chair to an adjacent object as, for example, a

lounge or sofa, a toilet, or an automobile seat.

Heretofore, it has generally been necessary for such people to be bodily lifted by an attendant to and from such places.

The advent of the collapsible wheel chair which may be folded to a compact size and placed within an automobile has enabled a good deal more mobility to be obtained by people requiring the use of a wheel chair. In such chairs, the arm rests are generally removed to allow a person to move directly transversely of the chair to an adjacent automobile seat or the like. However, when such arm rests are removed, there is no means provided by which the person using the chair may lift and propel him or herself transversely.

Moreover, since the thoracicmuscular developmentof such a person is generally not in any way incapacitated, the use of the arms then to propel or move ones body laterally of the wheel chair then makes use of a transversely extending supporting bar an ideal way of moving oneself to and from a wheel chair.

It is accordingly a principal object of my invention to provide a wheel chair attachment which will enable the user of such wheel chair readily to move him or herself to and from such chair.

It is a further principal object of my invention to provide a wheel chair attachment which may readily be assembled on such wheel chair and disassembled to provide a compact accessory movable therewith.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a wheel chair attachment which can be set up and completely operated by the person using such wheel chair without any assistance.

It is yet another object of my invention to provide a wheel chair attachment which may also be employed as an exercising device for a person using such wheel chair.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

The single view illustrates the wheel chair attachment in use.

Referring now to the annexed drawing, it will be seen that the wheel chair 1 may comprise the conventional collapsible type having a tubular metallic frame 2 supporting a canvas or like flexible seat 3 and similar back 4 with handles 5 and 6 being provided to propel such chair in the conventional manner by an attendant therebehind. A brake handle 7 may be employed to set a brake against wheel 8 firmly to lock such chair in the position desired. The wheel chair illustrated is preferably of the collapsible type which may be folded into a very compact size and readily positioned in the back seat of an automobile or the like. Such wheel chair is provided with arm rests on either side which fit within spaced sockets 9 and 10 at the front and rear respectively of the frame 2. It will be understood that these sockets or receptacles for the arm rests are positioned on both sides of the frame and that the U-shape arm rests may easily be fitted therewithin.

My wheel chair attachment then comprises a horizontally extending bar 12 having means 13 on one end thereof in the form of an A frame to support that one end of the bar above the wheel chair 1. The A frame '13 has spaced legs 14 and 15 which fit within the sockets 9 and 10 on that side of the wheel chair. A transverse reinforcing member 16 may be provided to serve as an arm rest and also firmly to rigidify the A-frame structure 13. Once the A frame is vertically inserted within the sockets 9 and 10, the same will be rigidly supported in the upright position shown.

The apex of the A frame 13 terminates in an upright tubular extension and may be attached to the horizontal bar through a transverse or vertically extending hollow tubular portion 17 welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the end of horizontally extending bar 12. A web or reinforcing plate 18 is provided at the apex of the A frame and a chain 19 may secure a lock pin 20 to such A-frame structure which can then be inserted through aligned openings in the tubular portion 17 and the upright tubular extension on the apex of the A frame 13. This then rigidly locks the one end of the horizontally extending bar to the A frame 13.

The opposite end of the horizontally extending bar 12 is provided with spaced supporting plates 21 and 22 firmly secured to the sides of the horizontally extending bar 12. A pivot pin 23 extending between the plates 21 and 22 pivotally supports a tubular member 24 having a further tubular member 25 telescoped therewithin. A set screw 26 provided with operating handle 27 may be provided firmly to lock the telescoping tubular members 24 and 25 in the desired position. A resilient shoe 28 is fitted over the tip of the tubular extension 25 to protect objects adjacent the wheel chair such as the arm 29 of a sofa or the like illustrated. The plates 21 and 22 may be secured to the horizontally extending bar 12 by means of rivets or other like suitable fasteners 30 and such plates may be provided with apertures 31 for insertion of a locking pin therethrough to hold the tubular extension 24 in the proper angular position with relation to the horizontally extending bar 12.

It can now be seen that the horizontally extending bar 12 will extend from the support 13 on one end to the support 24 on the other end transversely above the wheel chair 1 to enable a person sitting in such wheel chair to reach upwardly and pull oneself laterally out of the wheel chair along the horizontally extending bar 12. The particular angle of the horizontally extending bar with the A frame '13, of course, may be varied such that the bar extends forwardly of the chair at a slight angle or rearwardly at a slight angle.

In order to assemble the attachment on the wheel chair, the arm rests are removed and the A frame 13 is placed wthin the sockets 9 and 10 therefor. The horizontally extending bar 12 is then attached to the A frame by inserting the locking pin through the aperture in the vertically extending sleeve or tubular extension 17. The vertically extending support 24 may be pivoted about the pivot 23 to the position illustrated and the locking pin inserted through the aperture 31. The extension 25 may then be pulled outwardly and adjusted by means of the set screw 26 to the proper position horizontally to support the bar 12 firmly above the chair With the resilient shoes supported on or adjacent the object to Whichthe user of the chair desires to move. The user then reaches up and pulls him or herself to the adjacent object. If such adjacent object is an automobile, it will readily be understood'that the attachment may be collapsed by disassembling-the horizontally extending bar 12 and A frame 13 and pivoting the extension 24 such that a compact unit is provided. Both my compact unit attachment as well as the collapsible chair may then be placed inside the automobile for subsequent use when the user desires to leave such automobile.

Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed, change being made as regards the details described, provided the features stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of such be employed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention:

1. An attachment for wheel chairs and the like comprising a horizontally extending bar, a vertical support for said bar at one end thereof comprising an A frame, the legs of said A frame being adapted to be supported on one side of such Wheel chair and the like, means at the apex of said A frame detachably rigidly connecting said one end of said horizontal bar thereto, a longitudinally adjustable vertical support at the other end of said bar adapted to support said other end of said bar above an object adjacent such wheel chair whereby said bar will be firmly horizontally supported transversely across such wheel chair.

2. An attachment as set forth in claim 1 including a resilient shoe on the bottom tip of said longitudinally adjustable vertical support.

3. An attachment as set forth in claim 1 including depending plates mounted on each side of said other end of said bar, said longitudinally adjustable vertical support being pivotally mounted therebetween.

4. In combination, a wheel chair having sockets on the sides thereof for removable arm rests; an attachment for said wheel chair comprising a horizontally extending bar, means on 'one 'end of said bar fitting within said sockets and supporting said one end of said bar above said wheel chair, and means on the other end of said bar to support said other end of said bar above an object adjacent said wheel chair, said both means thus firmly horizontally supporting said bar, both said means being adapted to lie parallel to and adjacent's-aid bar to provide a compact assembly when said attachment is not in use.

5. In combination, a wheel chair having sockets on the sides thereof for removable arm rests; an attachment for said wheel chair comprising a horizontally extending bar, a vertical support for said bar at one end thereof comprising an A frame, the legs of said A frame being supported in said sockets on one side of said wheel chair; a longitudinally adjustable vertical support at the other end of said bar adapted to support said bar above an object adjacent said Wheel chair whereby said bar will be firmly horizontally supported transversely across said wheel chair.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5 including a resilient shoe on the bottom tip of said longitudinally adjustable vertical support.

7. The combination set forth in claim 6 including depending plates mounted on each side of said other end of i said bar, said longitudinally adjustable vertical support being pivotally mounted therebetween.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

